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Improving Accuracy With Cloud-Based Emergency Communication Systems

Not only are enterprises that are slow to innovate at risk of being overtaken by their competition, but they could also be putting their employees in danger by using outdated, obsolete technology. One of the main examples of this is how businesses design, configure and manage their enterprise 911 systems. Sticking to the procedures from a decade ago can potentially put lives at risk and leave companies legally liable for workplace injury or worse.

According to Trey Forgety, director of government affairs for the National Emergency Number Association, there aren't any official statistics on how frequently emergency calls are redirected due to glitches in the phone system. However, new examples occur all the time. In January, a middle school in Delano, Calif., called 911 after a student collapsed, and the call was routed to an emergency dispatcher in Ontario, Canada. Thousands of organizations are rapidly transitioning from traditional landline calling systems to IP telephony solutions, creating more complexity for 911 emergency systems and increasing the likelihood that calls will be misrouted or locations will be misidentified.

Cloud-based Systems Take The Complexity Out Of Call Routing

In order to implement modern best practices for enterprise 911 systems, companies should migrate their systems to the cloud, simplifying call routing and dramatically increasing the odds of reaching the proper public safety answering point. In an article for No Jitter, Andrew Prokop explains that a cloud-based emergency communication system allows calls to be routed more accurately and more efficiently.

"For example, you might consolidate all your trunks in Chicago and have a 'trunkless' gateway in Minneapolis," wrote Prokop. "If a Minneapolis user makes a 911 call, it will be sent out a SIP trunk in Chicago to a cloud service which will then send the call back to Minneapolis and the correct PSAP. This moves the responsibility of finding the correct PSAP away from the enterprise and to the E-911 cloud provider."

As users around the country continue to make the transition from traditional landlines to more modern Internet-based calling options, utilizing a cloud contact center for emergency operations is the most reliable solution to ensure accurate routing and service.